Author Archives: jp

TONIGHT! Wednesday December 19th, 2012 from 9pm to midnight (or later!) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!
Project: Cork Reindeer, SnowGlobe Diorama Ornament and MORE!
$2 Donation suggestion
Drink Special: The $4 Akbar Cosmopolitan: Unpretentiously luxurious!

This is the LAST CraftNight before we start thinking about 2013! If you haven’t been to CraftNight all year long, if you’ve been thinking and mulling and musing “Gee, I really gotta get in there” the last 360-something days of 2012 and you never made it in to see us, THIS IS IT! It’s going to be terrible fun, because I’ve got seasonal crafts galore for you to do, including TWO KINDS OF REINDEER CRAFTS and an amazingly charming little snowglobe diorama-type ornament thing that is sort of too awesome to believe.

The next CraftNight on the roster will be January 9th, 2013. I’m taking TWO WEEKS OFF to regroup and bring you new and exciting premium craft experiences!

What a year it was. As you sweat in your cable knit sweater, in your cloak and your wellingtons as you stare off into the fog on the edge of the cliffs gazing out into the distance like someone in a Bronté novel, I’ve got a few meditations for you.
1.) Your successes, what were they?
2.) Did you learn any lessons new this year? Anything you’d do over if you could?
3.) What would you like to accomplish in 2013 that you didn’t do in 2012, and why is it important to you?
4.) Who are the people you are most grateful for?
5.) How do you give us the best of you, and how will you share the best of yourself with us in 2013?

CraftNight wishes you a warm and happy holiday season, take the time to have some unscheduled “nothing” time if you can. Reflect on your basic goodness, the luck you have had, the things you can do, and know we’ll be rooting for you along the way now and always. In the midst of running around with all this holiday stuff, between every bright lightbulb and 20% off sign, around the brake lights, interchanges and crosswalks, we’re all just so much human fluff. The fluff of human kindness constantly needs bolstering and help from your heart and others, and now is as good a time as any to get started (see links below.)

See you at the Craft Table,
JP Craft Captain

LINKS for HELPING:

The U.S. Postal Service has established a unique Post Office Box for people to send letters of condolence to the Newtown, Connecticut community.If you wish to send expressions of comfort you can address them to:

Messages of Condolence for Newtown
PO Box 3700
Newtown CT 06470

Newtown Youth and Family Services said that its Caroline’s Gift fund will accept donations and relay the funds directly to those affected by the shooting.
You can also provide financial support to the families for funeral services and a memorial to the town by donating to the The Newtown Memorial Fund

Two hundred thousand displaced Syrian children need protection from the cold. Donate to help UNICEF to meet the urgent needs of these children.

Donate to the Philippine Red Cross to help give much needed services to survivors of Typhoon Pablo.

Hurricane Sandy recovery is still going strong, here’s where you can donate to the Red Cross.

Here is the Red Cross Holiday Giving Catalog, where you can help nationally or globally with things like shelter, vaccinations and food.

TONIGHT! December 12th, 2012 from 9pm – 12-ish at Akbar it’s CRAFTNIGHT!
Project: Assorted Hanukkah Crafts and Gingerbread People 
$2 Suggested Donation 
$4 Cosmopolitan Drink Special: The Akbar Cosmo, Solution for a Small Planet.

Tonight, CraftNight scoots over to allow the parade of beautiful beasts and fairies who will decorate the dance floor on tonight’s Thanksgiving Eve, as is our yearly tradition. We’ll return next week with our regularly scheduled program, and instead, for the moment, give thanks right here on this little crafting bulletin.

1.) Akbar – This long-lasting legendary landmark of gay goodness continues to be the cornerstone and gateway to Silverlake. It’s the homo “Cheers” where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. Free of pretense and nonsense, this place with its potent cocktails, easygoing attitude and analog hospitality is a refreshing break from the pumped up loathsome frenetic pace of other bars. Akbar will always be kind of dirty, very lovely and always inviting, just like you love your suitors! Long live Akbar, always choose Akbar, because you’ve got a reputation to keep!

2.) Making the President Do a Really Weird Job Every Thanksgiving – Truman was the first president to not have that second complimentary turkey slaughtered. But then it started becoming a “thing” and every subsequent president had to not eat the second turkey. Bush Senior actually issued one of the turkeys an official presidential pardon, and yep, ever since then, our nation’s president goes through this trippy ritual of talking to a turkey, issuing it a pardon, and then sending it off to a ranch to live out the rest of its life in relative royalty.

3.) 11 Years of CraftNight, and Counting – Mr. Joe T of Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park, when he was 87 years old, put his hand on my shoulder and said “JP get out there and LEAD those people!” Joe T is no longer with us, but he elected me to captain the crafts, and that is what I do, thanks to him. CraftNight serves to bring out the old-fashioned energy and joy of a taffy pull or a sewing circle. Cultivating an atmosphere of bohemia and great cordiality is the key, crafts, cocktails and music makes it all come together!

4.) The People The People – Whether one is a complete misanthrope, or a social butterfly, it cannot be denied that the people who surround us, from acquaintances to the casual friends, to the old friends, new family and old family, one’s life has undoubtedly, even secretly or unknowingly been touched by someone who gave a damn. To give a damn is where it’s at, even if everybody drives you crazy. Stuff you make or do or say just bounces off nothing otherwise, and then you’re just twiddling your thumbs in the kingdom of naval gazing.

5.) Black Friday – The annual and most intense and conspicuous example of American consumerism will hit its fever pitch in a flurry of rabid shoppers and frightened retail workers this November 23rd. To this I say, why not spend Friday with a plateful of leftovers and laziness? How about the gift of quality time and buying nothing? MAKE LOVE, NOT SHOP ! • MAKE ART, NOT SHOP!   Our economy is crappy, and its true that we need to buy stuff to help it get going, and I understand the thrill ofthe hunt and elbowing people to get to a cashmere scarf. But Black Friday has come to embody sheer madness, involving strife, avarice and depraved behavior that erases all the good energy that came with GIVING THANKS. So you know, if it’s your jam, stay in on Black Friday, go nowhere and cuddle the cat, knit a wig, write your Auntie a long letter, pinch a cute butt cheek and invite it to dinner, call the friends and lay around in your pajamas watching bad rom coms, it’s activism.

And there you have it, some things to ruminate on, to be thankful for, and if you made it this far, I’m thankful you joined me for the list! We’ll return next week with some very exciting guests who want to help you craft, it’s THE CRAFT LADIES! We’ll be playing some of their episodes on the Akbar JumboTron and making toilet paper tube owls and some other wise winter birds.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

www.akbarsilverlake.com

www.crafthead.com